Is Texas Firing Tom Herman, Hiring Urban Meyer?
Is Texas Firing Tom Herman, Hiring Urban Meyer?
Tom Herman will not be Texas’ head football coach in 2021. After multiple largely unimpressive seasons, it is clear that the Longhorns need a course correction. Former Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer could be precisely what’s needed to right the ship.
This past week Texas fell 23-20 to Iowa State. The defeat dropped Herman to 5-3 on the year and 30-18 in four seasons with the Longhorns.
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who has been the biggest casualty of Herman’s perpetual ineptness, didn’t even bother covering for his head coach after this past week’s defeat.
When asked if Herman got the most out of his players, Ehlinger replied: “That’s the million dollar question everybody’s trying to figure out the last 10 years.”
Ouch.
Herman’s failed fake punt and his decision to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Iowa State 13 instead of kicking a field goal to take a seven-point lead with eight minutes to go were obviously the standout terrible decisions from last week, but in a lot of ways they were simply illustrative of a larger problem: he’s a terrible coach.
And for what it’s worth, he doesn’t seem to have his heart in this whole thing any more either. When asked to defend his performance and whether he was the right man to lead Texas forward, he offered a very lukewarm response.
“That’s not for me to decide,” Herman replied. “I feel like where we have the program right now, compared to where it was when we took over, the future is very bright.”
Meyer, conversely, has repeatedly proven himself to be a successful leader of men across multiple programs.
The lesson here: actions have consequences. https://t.co/aVhdqhCxfN
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 27, 2020
Now there are rumors that interest between Meyer and Texas might be mutual.
“It’s clear that Meyer would be Texas’ target if it moved on from Herman,” Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel wrote on Sunday.
“It’s not nearly as clear if Meyer would have interest in returning to the sideline, as he has thrived in his new role as an analyst for Fox and still would have to make a health decision.
“Remember, it was an enlarged congenital arachnoid cyst in Meyer’s head that helped lead to his retirement, and whether he wants to take the health risk that accompanies coaching would weigh large on any decision.”
A mere one day later, Austonia reported that Meyer’s wife, Shelley, was spotted in Austin, Texas, looking at real estate.
Exclusive: Urban Meyer’s wife said to be eyeing real estate in Austin. Could a Longhorns coaching position be on the table? https://t.co/cjmbM2mjel
— Austonia (@austonianews) November 30, 2020
At this point, the writing is on the wall – Herman is a goner. Will Meyer be the man to replace him? It is increasingly looking that way.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
